“Pastoral care is the glue that makes the training program and GP registrars stick together and go the distance to fellowship”.

Sue Irvin and Janelle Melbourne are the pastoral care officers who provide important on-going support, referral and advice relating to personal, workplace and training issues to all GP registrars in the training program.

Each GP registrar is allocated a training team to assist with support and advice throughout training. The team is made up of an allocated ME (training advisor), a program manager and a pastoral care support officer.

Christine Heatherington-Tait is the executive manager education and support (EMES). The position oversees the operational and strategic managment of GP registrars, GP supervisors, practice accreditation and pastoral care programs.

Christine is responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining internal controls and quality assurance systems to support NTGPE's vision of continuous quality improvement.

The cultural education team is available to support GP registrars who need support to communicate with Aboriginal patients. They are skilled in helping to build trust and understanding between doctor and patient.

The team is made up of Richard Fejo, Elisabeth Heenan and Patricia Rankine and can be contacted on richard.fejo@ntgpe.org or 8946 7436.

RLOs are current GP registrars with NTGPE and are elected by the GP registrars annually. They are employed by NTGPE on a part-time basis to provide an independent professional colleague available to assist GP registrars with issues arising from their training. RLOs can help with support, advice and information and are able to advocate for individual GP registrars to NTGPE.

RLOs are a vital link in communication between the GP registrars and NTGPE. They deliver feedback on training, influence policies and operations and advocate for change.

RLOs are a member of the advisory council of GPRA (General Practice Registrars Association), a non-profit association run by GP registrars to promote GP registrar issues on a national level. RLOs are supported by the registrar advisory committee (RAC) which meets three times a year to provide advice about all aspects of training.

If you are interested in finding out further information about the RAC please contact the RLOs via rlo@ntgpe.org.